1. The Field of the Invention
This invention relates to illumination devices and provides an improved flexible extension for such devices. More particularly, this invention provides a flexible spacer which may be incorporated between the bulb casing, or head, and the battery casing, or body, of a flashlight.
2. The Background Art
At times it is desirable to extend a flashlight head (carrying the attendant light source) from a flashlight body. For example, an extension of this kind facilitates the inspection of components in an airplane. Similarly, appropriately configured such extensions are useful to inspect components in any crowded, cramped or partially obstructed environment. In such cases, it is particularly advantageous to be able to direct the illumination from a flashlight, by way of bending a flexible portion of the flashlight, to fit around obstructions without significantly limiting the field of view of an inspector. It may also be advantageous to be able to adapt a flexible member to interface with a support structure simply to aim a flashlight beam without requiring hands-on operation of the flashlight.
Flexible extensions which function to space apart a flashlight head (having a light source) and a flashlight body (carrying an energy source), are known, but all known devices present one or more disadvantages. One commercially available flashlight extension is sold by Aircraft Flashlights Inc. as a "Flexible Shaft Flashlight." The Flexible Shaft Flashlight product includes a flexible member which may be removed to convert the product to a regular flashlight. One example of the Flexible Shaft Flashlight extension has a shiny metal conduit flexing member containing an insulated electrically conducting wire. The conduit is a continuous helical or spiral wrapped piece of metal configured to form a hollow cylinder, wherein each wrap partially overlaps a prior wrap. The substrate metal forming such a conduit is chrome plated, thereby to create a shiny surface. Another example of the Flexible Shaft Flashlight has a substantially glare-free, black-colored, heat-shrink tubing installed over a metal conduit flexing member, which also contains an insulated electrically conducting wire.
Such prior offerings are unnecessarily expensive and have other drawbacks. A substantial amount of manufacturing effort is required to form a flexible conduit member. Additional manufacturing effort is required to insert an electrically conductive, insulated wire into the conduit. The conduit flexing member may loose desirable flexing characteristics with use as the conduit member relaxes, and overlapping wraps no longer help to hold a conduit in a deformed shape. Moreover, internal components may break (including the small-diameter conductive wire) after repeated flexing. Furthermore, extra manufacturing effort is required to add an external protective and/or decorative coating to either electrically insulate the conduit member or to prevent glare from a shiny surface. Added structure, such as an external heat-shrink tubing, may reduce desirable plastic, or deformed-shape maintaining, properties by disadvantageously increasing the restorative force tending to form a straight extension member. Such restorative force, or memory, limits the angle which can be maintained by a flexible member subsequent to undergoing a bending displacement.
In view of the above mentioned disadvantages, it would be an advance in the industry to provide a device for flexibly extending a flashlight head from a flashlight body which overcomes these and other drawbacks.